Tiruppavai

The Tiruppavai is a set of thirty stanzas in Tamil, called pasurams, attributed to Andal, a female poet-saint of Vaishnavism. The stanzas praise Perumal, that is, Vishnu in his form as Krishna. They form part of the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the anthology of the works of the twelve Alvars, poet-saints who are a central part of Tamil devotional literature. The work was also rendered into Telugu by Mullapudi Venkataramana under the title Melupalukula Melukolupu.

The text belongs to the pavai genre of songs, linked to a custom in which unmarried girls performed rites and kept a vow (vrata) during the month of Margali. Each day of that month takes its name from one of the thirty verses. The vow is mentioned in Paripatal, an anthology from the late Sangam era. Andal adopts the voice of a cowherd girl who, with her companions, prepares for the ritual in the hope of marrying Vishnu and remaining in his company forever.

According to Vaishnava tradition, the stanzas hold the essence of three basic mantras: the Tirumantram, the Dvayam and the Charama Sloka. The work is said to be the seed of the Vedas, so that its deeper meaning is revealed only under the guidance of an acharya learned in the scriptures. The opening stanzas introduce the theme and its purpose, the middle ones describe village life and the ritual bath, the next section narrates the visit to the temple, and the final ones list the requests made to the deity. The poem closes with a stanza in which Andal identifies herself as the daughter of Vishnuchitta (Periyalvar).